The worry among some is that the public might perceive the levies as competing with each other, which might mean the kiss of death for one or both.

To try to pre-empt that possibility, Troy Jackson of the Amos Project will address the Cincinnati Board of Education Monday to promote unity.

"Some people have an interest in Cincinnati Public Schools and Pre-School Promise being at odds with each other. We think that's silly," Jackson said.

He is taking an "all-in-for-kids" message to the school board that encourages support for both a higher earnings tax for early childhood pre-school and a higher property tax for public schools.

There are plenty of people who said they view that as a heavy lift, but neither the public schools nor the Pre-School Promise push is of a mind to wait another year.

"The question, I think, for all of us still has to be which issues and how much will actually be on the ballot?" Eve Bolton, a school board member who is part of an education system that's gone eight years without a levy, said.

She believes it can't go nine.

"There is choice still available to all the people that want to make a commitment to pre-school," Bolton said.

But with Cincinnati having the country's second-highest child poverty rate, there is no appetite among passionate Pre-School Promise advocates to wait any longer.

"We've got to do something about that as citizens in Cincinnati and we're ready to do that this November," said Jackson.

Despite his blunt message, those formulating plans for the ballot measure have not decided the scope or size of the effort. They said they are still waiting for a final Rand study about the pre-school effort.

A Rand executive will attend Monday’s board meeting to detail the pre-school landscape in Cincinnati.

Next month, the Cincinnati Business Committee could have a report ready about the city school system's finances.

The ballot could include a school levy, a Pre-School Promise levy, a children's services levy and a Hamilton County parks levy.

Talk of replacing the earnings tax and funding transit with a countywide sales tax has cooled ever since voters turned Mayor John Cranley's ill-fated parks plan belly up last November.

You hear a lot about the popularity of magnet schools, but many parents want special qualities brought to the neighborhood schools as well. A cultural arts focus may fit with some, environmental science may work with others and a business-oriented approach could be taken at more.

Ronan wants to add programs to six schools a year for the next three years.The effort evolved from a parental survey about what's desired in the district.

Desire will be in abundance over the next few months. Hard choices are soon to be made about tackling a poverty rate that won't improve on its own and what to put before voters at the polls.

Pastor Jackson will try to sell a unified vision Monday.

"I think there's a lot of fear," Jackson said. "There's a lot of concern about ‘Will voters support multiple things in the same election?’"

Jackson seeks to overcome that reticence by getting educators to not feed a perception that it has to be one tax measure or the other.

"I think that this is a chance for us to say no to that kind of divisive understanding and say yes to an aspirational vision for our community," Jackson said.